The present application generally relates to a bottled water dispenser, and, more particularly, to water bottle holders and water bottle dispensers that provide a convenient and simplified mechanism to access bottled water in a direct manner.
With the advent of increased popularity of bottled spring water and bottled purified water here and abroad, a need may have developed for water bottle holders and water bottle dispensers that may provide a convenient and simplified mechanism to access bottled water. In the past, water may have been dispensed through a water crock or similar devices. Water crocks may be jars or containers that store water. A dispensing device may be located at the bottom of the water crock for releasing water stored within the container. Water crocks generally require filling prior to usage and generally need to be cleaned periodically. Water dispensers have evolved from the simple water crocks to bottled water dispensers ranging from the original multiple gallon glass jugs that were inverted and positioned within large free standing and often refrigerated water coolers to the more current, disposable plastic bottles and single use “gallon” plastic water jugs.
A limited number of companies may offer purified and spring water in countertop plastic water jug dispensers. These plastic water jug dispensers may typically require that the dispensers lay flat on the countertop, and a single use valve may be located at the bottom of the jug. Of the few brands that may offer a countertop dispenser version of their product, several problems may be associated with their dispensers. To begin with, the user generally needs to administer a vent hole in these dispensers. Unfortunately, these plastic water jug dispensers generally do not provide a piercing tool for this task. Furthermore, the single use valves that may be offered with the small number of branded countertop dispensers on the market may be of a low quality and may often leak. Lastly, these dispensers may present a number of practical placement and use restrictions and problems.
Over the years, a variety of U.S. patents have issued on dispensing valves/valve parts, and water dispensing devices. U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,082 issued to Shinji Matsueda shows one way in which an inverted bottle can be supported by a stand that includes a thermal insulator for the inverted bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,720 issued to Blomster et al. discloses a floor based inverted water bottle stand for a 5 gallons bottle. As with the Shinji patent, Bolomster et al. is patenting the stand that supports an inverted bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,416 issued to Desrosiers et al. discloses another patent on a stand for a 5 gallons bottle that includes a reservoir and the support housing for the reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,126 issued to Andrew Goodman discloses a personal beverage desktop dispenser with a cubical base and valve housed therein. The male bottle threads are mated with the female threads of the base. An issue with this embodiment is that it may be difficult to invert the entire dispenser to union it with the upright bottle since the bottle valve is secured to the base. Even if the valve was not secured to the base, the valve with the handle is too large to fit through the bottle hole in the base top. It could prove rather difficult to threadably secure an entire base onto a bottle. Moreover, the base could become unsanitary rather quickly having liquid spilled within the base and it appears to be rather difficult to clean.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,145 issued to Jules G. Bennett, Jr. discloses a personal desktop beverage dispenser that has a base holding an inverted bottle with the male threads of the bottle threadably secured to the female threads of the dispenser base. An outflow valve controls the flow of bottle contents to a cup placed beneath. While this embodiment can be used with more than one bottle size it requires having to invert the entire base and threadably secure it onto an upright bottle, which could prove to be rather difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,903 issued to Salvatore Barolotta discloses a personal beverage bottle dispenser. The personal beverage bottle dispenser requires that the entire base be inverted and threadably secured to the upright bottle in order to union the bottle with the valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,089 issued to Harold O. Seltsam, shows a self-closing lift type faucet adapted for use with water crocks, certain coolers, and beverage dispensers. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,472 issued Sep. 25, 1965 to Seltsam shows a tubular diaphragm valve. As with the self-closing valve, this valve is again configured for use with water crocks, certain coolers, and beverage dispensers.